Something is Very Wrong
by Me Heart Gaara
Summary: When Leo, Don and Raph are fed up with Mikey's jokes and pranks, they say some things that deeply hurt Michelangelo. What will they do when Mikey tries to change for them? Will they end up losing their little brother to darkness?
1. Chapter 1

"Grab that box and load the van." ordered a tall man with a purple dragon tattoo winding around his neck and over his bald head. A group of purple dragons were busy gathering supplies for the Shredder. ( I say gathering but what I really mean is stealing) As the loaded the last box, an empty cole can rolled toward the feet of the bald leader.

"huh...? as he bent down to pick it up, it exploded and dispersed a smoke screen. From the shadows, four turtles sped out and started kicking some purple dragon butt. Donatello knocked the feet out from the purple dragon closest to the van using his bō-staff. He turned around to view the contents of the boxes.

"Atracurium...? Now what would Shredder need this for?" Donnie mused to himself as the others fought off the hordes of purple dragons.

"Booyakasha!" Mikey yelled as he pummeled into a bunch of purple dragons. "Oh yeah, who's the man...or turtle?! Mikey is!" Mikey celebrated with his hands, nunchaku and all swinging in the air, not paying attention to his surroundings. Michelangelo did not notice one purple dragon swing his leg out, taking Mikey down to the ground. "GAAAAH!" Mikey screamed in surprise. THe purple dragon who tripped Mikey ran at him with a pipe. Mikey smiled. "Alley-oop!" he said amusingly as he brought his legs up and shoved the guy in the air, kicking him over his head. The guy screamed as he flew through the air and...right into Raphael. The hot-headed turtle growled at the guy who was knocked out on impact.

"MIIIIKEY!" Raph yelled as he shoved the guy off, just to get another purple dragon thrown at him.

"Raph, quit lying around and help!" Mikey laughed as he swung a nun-chaku around, hitting a purple dragon square in the jaw. Laughing, Mikey got out his kusarigama and swung it around. Not realizing that Donnie was busy looking through the van, Mikey threw a purple dragon into the van. The purple dragon's switchblade caught on a box, and a white powdery substance dispersed through the air in the van.

"Mikey! Don't go throwing people in here! I'm trying to...trying to...try..."Donnie began but passed out due to the sleeping agent found in the boxes.

"Donnie!" Leonardo, the leader, yelled out as his younger brother fell asleep. He kicked a purple dragon out of the way and ran to the purple-clad was already there laughing.

"Look! He's drooling!" Mikey poked Donnie laughing as he back kicked the last remaining Purple Dragon that came up behind them.

"Michelangelo! Now is not the time!" Leo stated in his lecture voice. He only used Mikey's full name when h was upset.

"Oh, come on, Leo. Donnie's drooling face is hilarious!" Mikey took out his T-Phone and snapped a picture.

"MIKEY!" Raph slammed the youngest turtle into th ground. "How do you like it, huh?!" Raph growled, obviously in an act of revenge for the two Purple Dragons Mikey threw at him. Raph grabbed Mikey in a headlock and started grinding his knuckles into Mikey's head.

"AHHH! I'm sorry, Raph!"

"Say it!"

"NOOOOO!" Raph dug his fist harder into Mikey's head.

"I said 'SAY IT!'"

"Fine...Raphael is all powerful, there is no one greater than hi..."

"Raphael, now is not the time!" Leo interrupted. "Get off of Mikey, we have to get Donnie home. I'll take care of these stolen boxes of...Atra..atra...whatever. Michelangelo, grab Donnie. Raph, help him. I will deal with the van." Leo gave the orders, but Mikey pouted.

"Awwwww...but I wanna drive the van."

"Michelangelo, this is NOT up for discussion." Leo angrily slammed the front door to the van and started it. Sighing, Mikey grabbed Donnie out of the back and closed the trunk. Leo drove off, leaving Raph and Mikey to get Donnie home.

"Ewwww! He's drooling on me!" Mikey screamed, earning a slap to the back of the head from Raph.

"Shut up and let's go home."

Later that evening, Donnie was awake, Raph was punching the practice dummy and Mikey was reading a comic book. Leo walked in the lair, done with turning the van into the police, discreetly of course. Looking up from his comic, Mikey smiled and saif,

"Yo, Leo! Look at the pic I gor of Donnie sleep-drooling! It came out really..." Leo grabbed Mikey's comic book and glared at his brother.

"Mikey, why can't you take anything seriously? You have been goofing off all week, missing training, making messes, and today your antics were totally uncalled for!"

"Shellax, dude, we won didn't we?" Mikey shrugged off the lecture and reached for his comic book.

"No, MIkey, you just don't get it. Because of you, Raph could have been hurt, Donnie passed out and you almost got your head caved in. You have to learn that sometimes it's not okay to joke around!" Mikey looked hurt, obviously not liking the lecture. Raph turned away from the practice dummy.

"I can't believe I'm saying this...but Leo's right" Raph walked up behind Mikey, glaring down at him with his arms crossed. "You threw two of those Purple Dragons at me. The first one was an accident, but the second one was just to be cute. I'm...We're fed up with it, Mikey!" Mikey looked away from his older brothers.

"But...but I.."

"No 'buts,' Mikey. Sometimes it's just not funny." Leo continued.

"I have to agree with you two on this," Donnie joined in. "Why can't you be more serious, Mikey?" Before any of them could say anything else, Master Splinter walked into the room, calling them to the dojo for meditation training.

In the dojo the brothers sat in fron of their Master and father, listening to his voice.

"Clear your mind...today, you will be looking at yourself, your inner self. What makes you, you...Michelangelo, close your eyes...now...breathe in...dig deep into your soul, sense yourself...breathe out...breathe in..." Soon, Master Splinter's voice trailed off as Mikey tried his best to calm his mind, but all he kept thinking about was what his brothers said about his jokes and being serious. "But that's not who I am..." Mikey thought. "They just want me to be like them...they don't understand me..." Mikey drifted off into meditation. Deep in his trance, Mikey looked around. He was in a large bright room with toys, comics and a lot of pictures of him and his family laughing and having fun together. To his back he felt something warm. He turned around and saw a glowing ball of orange light, which was illuminating the room. It was really bright, but it did not hurt Mikey's eyes as he looked at it. As he walked towards it, he began to feel really happy. He smiled as he looked into it...then it hit him! This was what Master Splinter was talking about! His inner self! Mikey reached out and touched it. He was immediately filled with laughter, the urge to smile and the warmth of love. Mikey loved it.

"Why can't you be more serious?" The thought caused Mikey to pull violently away from the light.

"This is...me...I can't...I can't be like Leo...or Donnie...or even Raph..." looking around the room of his inner self, he tried to find something that could help him. Looking up he saw something that looked like a garage door of some kind. Suddenly, Mikey had an idea. If he closed that partly, maybe he could be more like his brothers. Mikey jumped up and grabbed the bottom of the door. He pulled a couple of times, trying to get it unstuck. The door suddenly became loose and started coming down, hard and fast. Before he could stop it, the door slammed shut, plunging the room into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! I was not expecting this great response to this story. **

**I Love Mikey, and I love Mikey stories. I always loved how Michelangelo is known to have the most natural talent for ninjitsu out of his brothers, but he never reaches his full potential because of his inability to focus and love of jokes and pranks. **

**Usually when I write stories, it's after I spent a lot, and I mean A LOT of time looking for a story like this, where Mikey finally uses his abilities. **

**I really want to explore Mikey's purpose in his family, and I got the idea of what purpose I wanted him to have through many tmnt fanfics that I read and the new 2012 show. I felt like the 2003 show didn't focus on Mikey as much as I wished. He was more of the comedic relief and you never saw him go through a journey like Donnie, Raph or Leo (especially Leo, man, he had some serious angst there at one point). **

**Well, anyway, on with the story! I will do my very best to finish this one, as I have a habit of leaving my fanfics unfinished, I really want to finish this one. Please keep encouraging me to finish it!**

** *Side Note: Did anyone notice how the Space Heroes characters are parallels of the turtles themselves? It took me like all the way up to the invention of the T-phone to realize it because of Leo's caller id pic for Donnie was Dr. Mindstrong. LOL***

Master Splinter jolted awake from his meditation. He could no longer sense Michelangelo's warm aura; something dark was rising from his son...something was very wrong. "Yame! Meditation is over." His sons opened their eyes. Leo sighed.

"I'm sorry, Sensei, I couldn't seem to find my inner self." Leo sighed again and Raph huffed, a subtle way of saying he couldn't do it either. Donnie just quietly left, knowing that even if he explained the scientific reasoning behind meditation, no one would understand. Mikey said nothing and did not move. Dull, blue eyes looked at Master Splinter. Getting that uneasy feeling again, Splinter dismissed Leonardo and Raphael.

"Leonardo, Raphael, would you give me some privacy, I need to speak with Michelangelo." Leo bowed and Raph smirked, obviously thinking that Mikey was in trouble. Once they had left the dojo, Master Splinter turned to his youngest. "Michelangelo, my son, are you feeling ok?" he asked, concern written all over his face. Why could he not sense his son's usually happy and warm spirit? Lightless blue eyes turned to Splinter.

"I am fine, Sensei, my health is not in any danger." It was almost a robotic response, and this caused Splinter to be even more distressed over Michelangelo's condition.

"I meant, how is your spirit, my son?" Michelangelo turned to meet Splinter's eyes.

"My spirit is well-managed, Sensei." They sat staring into each other's eyes for a while longer, before Splinter broke away, unable to bear looking into those lifeless eyes any longer.

"Michelangelo, wait here while I go collect your brothers for the rest of training."

"Hai, sensei." Mikey bowed as Splinter got up to retrieve the others. he was greatly concerned for his youngest son, but he needed to know more about his condition. Walking into the main living area, Splinter looked around. Raphael was doing one-armed push-ups off to the side while Donatello was no where to be seen, so Splinter assumed he was in his lab. Leonardo sat watching his favorite show, Space Heroes. On the show, Crankshaw, the young man who Captain Ryan slaps once in a while (who am I kidding, like every time he's on screen he gets slapped) was zapped with an emotion-nuller ray.

"Crankshaw!" Captain Ryan slapped the young man. "Don't lose your emotions, man! We need your cowardly presence to keep order on this ship!"

"I am no longer a coward, Captain. I will not hesitate to do what is necessary any more." Crankshaw said blankly as he pulled out a ray gun, not setting it to stun, and proceeded to attack their enemies.

"Crankshaw! Where is your humanity!" Captain Ryan screamed, as aliens were dropping. Commander Grundch tried to stop Crankshaw, only to get shot in the leg with the ray gun.

"No!" Leo shouted, getting way into his show. Master Splinter chose this time to call his sons.

"My sons, return to the dojo for training." The turtles looked up and Donatello stuck his head out of his lab. Splinter led his sons to the dojo and explained the training for the day. "In battles, you have to go against many foes at once, some who will be better or on the same level as you. Today, you will be fighting one on three...Starting with Michelangelo." Leo, Don and Raph looked at each other silently...then burst out laughing.

"Sensei, with all due respect," Leo began to explain between laughs. "Us three, against Mikey? The fight would be over in like two seconds." Raph and Donnie voiced their agreements through snorts and chuckles. Splinter just flared over his large rat nose, signaling them that he was serious. The three older turtles stopped laughing, but small smiles could still be seen on their amused faces. Splinter ordered the turtles to get ready for the exercise. It worried Splinter that Michelangelo's brothers had not noticed his lack of spirit.

"Hajime!" the turtles were ordered to begin. Raphael charged first, not even bothering to take out his sais. Mikey just side-stepped, allowing Raph to continue his charge. Donnie went next, spinning his bō-staff in a show of skill. Using the staff as leverage, Donnie vaulted himself in a flying kick toward Mikey, only to miss as Mikey took one step forward at the last minute. Leo, who watched the others fail, was trying to figure out Mikey's moves. Instead of making a big show out of dodging, he was using the smallest of movements, saving energy...which was very unlike Mikey. Wanting to get an answer to this discovery, Leo deliberately unsheathed his katanas. Then he charged, using his utmost skill to land a blow, but when he cut his sword down, it looked as though he missed Mikey on purpose. Confused, Leo struck again, and the same thing happened. Mikey was dodging his attacks with such great speed, it made it seem as though Leo had no aim whatsoever. Deciding quickly to use a swiping of the sword and kick combo, he launched himself at Mikey, only to have Mikey step out of the way at the last second, revealing a charging Raphael. Leo and Raph crashed into each other with a sickening *SMACK*.

"Ugh...LEO! I had him!" Raph angrily said as he tried to push Leo off of him, only to get Donnie crashing on top of them. "Dwnny..!" Raph's muffled voice could be heard from the bottom of the pile.

"I don't know what happened, guys..." Donnie apologized. "One second I had him in range for my kick, but then he just moved..." Leo looked at Mikey...who was no laughing, not making fun, not victory dancing...just...just standing there.

"He took all three of us down without touching us." Leo said more to himself than to the others, but upon hearing that, Raph's temper suddenly flared. Pulling out his sais, Raph stalked toward Mikey, who stared blankly at him.

"No more Mr. Nice Turtle. You're going down, Mikey!" Raph yelled as he charged, sais out and ready to kill. Instead of charging through like he did before, Raph stopped to throw a punch, earning a quick dodge from Mikey. He continued to punch, stab and kick at Mikey, never landing a hit. After a while, when it was clear that Raph would never get a blow in...Mikey suddenly blocked an attack. He had been dodging this whole time, so it took Raph by surprise. His dull blue eyes looked into Raph's neon green ones. Raph suddenly realized that something was very, very wrong with Mikey. "...Mikey?..." Raph asked, concerned. Mikey didn't respond in the way Raph had hoped. Mikey did a quick jab into Raph's abdomen, pushing him back a few inches. Mikey quickly did a spinning air kick, hitting Raph square in the jaw with his foot, sending Raph spinning to the floor. Leo and Donnie were about to attack again when Splinter called out.

"Yame!" The turtles stopped and looked at their sensei. "I've seen enough." Leo put his katanas away and he and his brothers all knelt in front of Splinter. Leo glanced nervously to his left, where Mikey decided to kneel. He was worried. Something was not right with the way his youngest brother was acting. When Mikey met Leo's eyes, Leo flinched and quickly looked away. Those were not his brother's eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much for all of the support! I really want to finish this fanfic, so I really need the encouragement. Every time I log into fanfiction and I see a new review for this story, It makes me really happy, so Thanks again! **

** Enjoy the 3rd chapter! **

"My sons..." Splinter began, but was quickly interrupted by Raphael.

"Sensei, what the shell is going on with Mikey?!" Donnie and Leo looked over at Raph, surprised that he just came out and said it, especially with Mikey still in the room. Silence filled the dojo, you could have heard a pin drop.

"I do not understand what you mean, Raphael." Everyone turned towards Mikey. This was the first time Leo, Donnie and Raph heard him speak since before meditation...it hardly sounded like Mikey. "There is nothing wrong with me. I simply took your advice and..."

"Wait, what do you mean there's nothing wrong with ya?! It's like you woke up on the 'greatest-ninja-in-the-world-side of the bed' suddenly...and what's with that response?!" Raph interrupted, still upset over his beating. Mikey just stared blankly at Raph as Leo and Donnie stared at him, wondering the same thing.

"Mikey...?" Donnie said, suddenly going into doctor mode. "Did you eat something weird, hit your head or..."

"Donatello, enough." Splinter interrupted. "This is not a physical illness that Michelangelo has. It is a spiritual one." Mikey stared up at Splinter looking upset. This was the first time he showed any emotion since the change.

"I am not ill, _Sensei_." The words Mikey spoke held such contempt that it threw his family off guard. "I merely decided to throw away distractions in order to become 'more serious' as my brothers suggested."

"This is not what we meant, Mikey!" Donnie called out, not liking what he was seeing. "We...we'll find some way to fix you...I...we...this isn't you!" All Mikey did was glare at Donnie, making him flinch away. Mikey stood up and said with as much venom in his voice as the Shredder.

"I am not broken, Donnie. You **CAN'T **fix me." Mikey smiled a cruel smile. "This is what you asked for, accept the results." Mikey walked out of the room, leaving his family behind, stunned into silence.

"Sensei...what are we going to do?" Leo asked. "We can't just leave Mikey like that. It's not who he is."

"I agree, Leonardo, I believe we need to..."

"What are you all talking about?!" Raphael interrupted his sensei again. "This new Mikey is great!" Leo, Donnie and Splinter looked at him like a screw finally came loose in his head. "Mikey is focused and serious. Sensei is always telling him that he has the most raw talent out of all of us, yet he can never concentrate more than 2 freakin' seconds to utilize it! He could kick some serious shell out there, but all you idiots can think about is the fact that he's not goofing around anymore. We always tell him to stop with all the jokes, and now he has! I don't know what you all are talkin' about... 'fixin' him.' And you know what...? Mikey's right! This is what we've been asking for our whole lives! For Mikey to finally 'GROW UP!" Raph's little speech hit home for Leo and Donnie, who saw the logic in what Raph was saying. Master Splinter, however, knew that if Mikey stayed this way, the balance in their family could tilt, causing serious harm to all of their spirits.

"Wow, Raph. I didn't know you could make such a compelling argument.." Donnie said as he stood up to look into his next older brother's eyes. I mean, I didn't even know you knew what 'utilize' meant! And you used it in a sentence!" Raph growled at the brainiac who scurried away behind Leo.

"Raph is right. I guess our words finally sunk into Mikey." Leo smiled. "Maybe we should take this new Mikey out for a test run? See how he does against some foot? Maybe some mutants!"

"My sons. I would greatly advise against this decision. Michelangelo should not be leaving the lair." Splinter said quickly, almost revealing the panic he felt.

"Relax, Sensei," Leo said. "We'll watch after Mikey. What's the worst that could happen?" With that the boys left the dojo to grab Mikey for a surface run.

"That is exactly what I am afraid of, Leonardo...the worst." Splinter said to the empty dojo, worry creasing his brow as he watched his sons leave.

Up on the rooftops, the four brothers ran, flipped and jumped over the buildings and alleyways. Three turtles seemed to be enjoying themselves, laughing and wooping as they raced each other in an unspoken tournament. Mikey ran as though it was a job, not a hobby or a fun activity. Leo suddenly stopped, holding up a fist in a sign for the others to stop and be silent. "Foot...and Rahzar and Fishface. It looks like they are stealing some sort of chemical..." Leo observed. Donnie looked over his shoulder.

"Tracrium...that's Atracurim Besylate! That substance is an adjunct to general anesthesia, to facilitate endotracheal intubation and to provide skeletal muscle relaxation during surgery or mechanical ventilation..."

"English, egg-head!" Raph interrupted as quietly as possible.

"Tracrium is made from the atracurium that those Purple Dragons were stealing yesterday, except this is more potent. It's used to put people down during surgery, like sleeping gas. I don't know what Shredder would want with that, though..." Donnie explained thoughtfully to his three, "not-so-bright" brothers.

"Well, whatever he wants it for, it can't be good," Leo stated as he unsheathed his katanas. "Let's go stomp the foot!" Donnie and Raph sighed at the lame pun that Leo made as they also got out their weapons. Mikey, who would have normally groaned as well, pulled out his nunchaku and silently got into position, awaiting Leo's orders. Suddenly, Leo was nervous about the fight that will ensue. He didn't understand why, because he never felt this way before. He tried to swallow his nerves, but the nervous pit in his stomach just got worse. "Get it together, Leo." the blue-clad turtle silently reprimanded himself. Since he didn't want the guys to hear the tension in his voice, Leo just silently commanded them to begin the ambush.

The four turtles landed on the concrete ground of New York City and began to fight the hordes of foot ninjas. They breezed by the foot ninjas, who were never much of a challenge, for Raph especially. However, in order to stop the heist, the turtles needed to defeat the two mutants who loyally served the Shredder. Rahzar roared at the turtles, baring his razor sharp teeth. Fishface smirked as he jumped towards them using his robotic legs. Raph and Donnie took on Fishface, attacking and blocking with such rhythm, that it made Leo glad that Splinter had them practice their combo attacks. That left him and Mikey to go against Rahzar. The double-mutated dog snarled at the turtles, circling them like the predator he was. Leo still felt stiff, like this was his first time in battle. He still couldn't figure out why he was so on edge, but he had other things to worry about at the moment...like the giant dog who just pounced at Mikey. Leo charged Rahzar, katanas swinging...but it wasn't necessary. Mikey just dodged Rahzar's attack and swung his kusarigama at his throat, the knife end getting uncomfortably close to an artery. Leo blocked the spikes of bone that Rahzar threw at him, but he was amazed and shocked at what his baby brother did. On the one hand, Mikey was able to dodge Rahzar's attack, which was extremely fast! But on the other, the idea that Mikey would go straight for a kill shot unnerved Leo. Leo jumped back into the battle, his fear growing.

"Mikey! Try not to...!" But Leo didn't finish his though as he was back-handed by Rahzar. Leo's vision spotted when he hit a brick wall shell-first. He shook his head as though he were trying to shake the black shapes making it's way into his eyes. He looked up and saw Mikey pushing Rahzar back. Mikey's ninjutsu seemed to be on a completely different level than normal, and it was confusing Rahzar, allowing Mikey to gain the upper hand in the fight. Leo tried to stand up only to fall back and lean against the wall. Usually he would be able to recover faster from this type of hit, especially when his brothers needed him...but he felt...useless. Mikey didn't need him, and Raph and Donnie were holding their own. It was like he was invincible in a fight with his brothers, but watching Mikey take down the mutant servant of the Shredder single-handedly made every single hit, cut, bruise and break that he experienced in previous fights come crashing down on him. If none of his brother's needed him...heck, if even Mikey..._Mikey_, didn't need him, why should he get up? Mikey didn't even ask him if he was ok. He just kept fighting like he could care less about what happened to his team...as long as the mission succeeded. Leo regretted ever agreeing with Raph. He missed his brother. The creature in front of him, tying up an unconscious Rahzar, was nothing but an empty copy, a doppelganger. The blue-clad turtle finally understood why he was so nervous and tense before. Mikey usually cracked a joke or said something stupid, which always lightened the mood. Without those wise-cracks...Leo felt the weight of the mission like he was the only one carrying it. Leo needed Mikey, jokes and all. The guilt he felt over what he said before... "You have to learn that sometimes it's not okay to joke around!" ate at his gut as his eyes met Mikey's lifeless ones. Leo stood up, a new sense of purpose filling his body. Mikey did need him, but not in the way he once did. Mikey needed his older brother to save him from himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it's been so long. I'm in the middle of student teaching and I had a lot of planning to do in order to teach my fifth graders. I haven't had a lot of time to myself lately. But I assigned a big project for my fifth graders in history so I have a lot of time now ^_^. Anyway, here is the next installment in my TMNT story. There are a lot of flashbacks in this one, I hope I made it clear when a flashback is taking place.**

*OOOMPH* Raph punched the practice dummy, knocking it off of its hook. He breathed in through his nose and out of his mouth, a calming exercise that Master Splinter taught him to keep his anger under control. in nose...out mouth...in nose...out mouth...in...*CRACK* Raph punched the brick wall in their sewer. No matter how many times he tried, he couldn't seem to calm down. He felt trapped in his anger, wild, restless. Why...why was he so on edge!? Raph kicked open a door, not realizing Donnie was behind it. The door smacked Donnie right in the face and he fell to the ground, the glass beaker in his hand breaking next to him.

"Donnie! Oh, man, I'm...I didn't mean...I..." Donnie, sat up, his hand cupping his nose. As he brought his hand away, Raph saw the blood smeared and still dripping down his face from his nose. Raph almost hurled. Don't get me wrong, Raph isn't queasy around blood, but the thought of Donnie bleeding so much because of his actions, made his stomach turn. If he hurt any of his brothers enough to cause them to bleed, Raph just felt the world crashing down. "Donnie...I'm sorry..." Raph said in a voice so quiet, Raph wasn't sure if Donnie heard.

"Dude, it's just a bloody nose, I've gotten plenty of those, mostly from Mikey being reckless, but no worries!" Donnie quickly stood up and stuck two tissues up his nostrils, stopping the blood flow. "Just don't kick down any more doors, K?" Donnie began sweeping up the glass as Raph just held his arm at his side, looking like a kicked puppy. Donnie finished sweeping up the glass and turned to look at his next older brother. "Raph? Are you ok?" Donnie asked concerned. Raph looked up at Donnie, seeing as Donnie is a good head taller than Raph.

"I'm...fine..." Raph quickly walked out of the room and back to the dojo. Where he became restless again. His mind wandered back to the previous night as his body began to do kata after kata.

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

Raph and Donnie defeated Fishface, causing Fishface to retreat down an alley, leaving a vanquished, tied-up Rahzar in the hands of the turtles. Placing his katanas back in their sheathes, Leo knelt in front of, the once human, Chris Bradford.

"Rahzar!" Leo yelled into the dog's ear, causing him to jolt awake and try to break his bonds, but Mikey had him tied up in a way that was too good, especially for Mikey. Rahzar growled and snapped his fanged jaws at Leo's head.

"What are you waiting for? Just kill me," the black dog snarled at Leo. "I have failed my master...and I lost to," Rahzar glared at Mikey, who he once knew as incompetent, "this disgusting creature." Leo only glared at the dog.

"We are NOT, going to kill you, but we are going to get you to answer some questions." Rahzar smirked, and then burst out laughing.

"What makes you think that I will answer anything. As long as I breathe, I will remain loyal to my master, The Shredder." Rahzar continued to chuckle.

"Oh yeah?! We could do this the hard way, or the painful way? Your choice.." Raph said as he swung his sai in his hands.

"As I said, I would die before giving up my master." Rahzar snarled at the short-tempered turtle. Raph was about to give a smart retort when Mikey spoke.

"Then die." Raph turned to look at his baby brother, confused, but also proud that his scardy-cat brother had finally grown a back-bone. Mikey grabbed Leo's katanas and threw one at Rahzar's feet and held the other in his hand. "If you won't tell us what we need to know, then you have no reason to live. You failed your master, and we don't take prisoners."

"Mikey," Leo grabbed him by the shoulders. "We. Do. Not. Kill." Leo said it with such conviction, that Raph felt it in his gut. But Mikey just stared blankly into Leo's eyes.

"Our mission: to find out what The Shredder wants with Atracurim Besylate. If he will not tell us, then he is useless. Why should we keep useless things?" Other than the fact that Mikey could pronounce the name of the chemical correctly, Donnie and Leo were shocked by his answer. Raph was surprised, but he saw the sense in what Mikey was saying.

"Mikey is right, why don't we just get rid of these guys? I mean they always come back for us...and it's not like we can just hand them over to the police. Are we just going to let him go?" Raph defended Mikey's case. Donnie and Leo stared at Raph, perplexed. Then Leo frowned, it wasn't an angry frown, it was more like the frown he got when he was thinking seriously about a question. When he was ready to answer, he stood up straight, held up his chin and stared straight into Raphael's eyes.

"We are going to let him go." Raph began to protest but Leo held up his hand, indicating he wasn't finished, "because we are **NOT** like them." Then he turned to Mikey and in his most serious leader voice, the one Raph hates, he spoke, "Michelangelo, as leader of this platoon, I am making a tactical decision to release Rahzar. Understood?" Raph was confused. Why was Leo speaking like that to Mikey?...Leo doesn't speak that way...ever. Leo never asserted his authority like that. Raph became even more confused when he saw Mikey bow his head, a quick gesture of respect to one of higher rank. Mikey proceeded to temporarily paralyze Rahzar with a quick jab to a pressure point, a move he only saw Master Splinter use, and then untie him.

"You think this changes things?!" Rahzar yelled after them as they jumped to a rooftop. "I will never stop hunting you! UNDERSTAND!?" Raph turned to glare at the giant dog, then he vanished into the shadows with his brothers.

As they walked into their lair, Master Splinter jolted to his feet from the couch, like he was worrying so much he could not meditate or relax in his room. "How was the surface? What happened? Is Michelangelo ok?" Splinter frantically asked as he examined his sons for injuries or anything out of the ordinary. Raph just grumbled under his breath as he glared at Leo, who ignored Raph's anger directed towards him.

"Master, may I speak with you...alone?" Leonardo asked Splinter, who raised an eyebrow at his son.

"Leonardo..." Splinter began.

"Please, Sensei." Leo looked up into his father's eyes, communicating silently that he needed to speak privately with him. Splinter sighed and led Leo to his room, and then promptly shut the door.

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

Raph kicked wildly through the air, but he lost his balance as some movement caught his eye. Leaning against the tree in the dojo, in the shadows, was Mikey. He was staring at Raph, like he was trying to get a read on him. Without saying anything, Mikey walked out of the dojo. This set Raph off. He was blinded by red fury and he punched the concrete wall, leaving chunks of rock falling down.

"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!" Raph screamed as he punched the wall again.

"Raphael!" Splinter ran out of his room with Leo. "What do you think you are doing?" The giant rat took his son's bloody hand in his as he examined the damage. "What is wrong, my son?" Splinter looked into Raph's eyes. Raph could not feel the pain in his hand, but his spirit felt cold and empty, like the silence throughout the lair. He felt unnatural, like something was missing, and that hurt his soul. Raph breathed heavily, trying to ease his anger. But every time he thought he calmed down, the silence would just piss him off. He did not realize how much it was affecting him till now. Splinter slowly led the unstable Raphael to his room next to the dojo and started wrapping up his hand. Leo sat quietly by his brother, a worried expression etched onto his face. After sitting in silence, Raph quickly pulled his hand from his father and he felt the rage build up. He wanted to scream, to punch something, to destroy something. The room turned red in his fury, but Splinter quickly grabbed his son's face. "Raphael! You are more than your anger, my son. Calm yourself." The red seemed to be washed away and Raph looked up at his father, then over at Leo.

"What...what's wrong with me...why is it so DAMN QUIET!?" Raph screamed into the silence. "I can't...I can't take this...I can't calm...I can't calm down...and I...I hurt Donnie...Sensei...Leo..." Raph pleaded with his brother and father, he seemed like he could explode at any moment.

"Raph, you have to talk to us. You have to tell us how you are feeling, so we can help you. Take three deep breaths, then talk to us." Leo stated in a calm voice, which did not match his face, which held fear and worry for his brother. Bright green eyes locked with dark blue ones as Raph breathed in...breathed out...breathed in...breathed out...breathed in...breathed out. Raph sighed, feeling slightly calm, but the anger and irritated feelings were still there.

"I...I'm not good at sharing my feelings." Raph looked at the floor, obviously embarrassed. Leo and Splinter nodded and patiently waited for Raph to begin. "I feel...on edge. And what pisses me off the most is that I don't know why! It's like the silence is...it's like it's...mocking me...telling me I'm empty...except for my anger. And I could..." Raph ground his teeth together, trying not to let the red haze take over again.

"Deep breaths, Raph. Deep breaths." Leo placed a supportive hand on Raph's shoulder. Raph breathed again and continued.

"I feel that I could...get into a rage and..." Raph breathed in. "...and never come out. When I get angry, I don't always see everything around me. I just want to break something...whatever's near me...and it scares me, that I can't see. What if I...what if I...break you..." Raph swallowed the lump in his throat. "What if I hurt my family? I scare myself...but right now, this silence...it's too damn quiet...and the silence takes that fear away. And when that fear is gone, then I think...I think it would not be so bad to stay angry...to just let it consume me...and...and..." He stopped then and punched the floor. "Why is it so quiet...it...it's unnatural...it's...wrong." Raph looked up into his father's and brother's eyes for the first time since he started. "Why is it so wrong...what's missing?" Leo and Splinter looked at each other.

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

(earlier that night)

"Please, Sensei." Leo looked up into his father's eyes, communicating silently that he needed to speak privately with him. Splinter sighed and led Leo to his room, and then promptly shut the door. Splinter sat on the floor and indicated for Leonardo to sit as well.

"My son, what happened tonight?" Leo began to explain to Splinter the events that unfolded. What happened with Rahzar, but what he spent the most time explaining, was what happened with Michelangelo. When Leo was done explaining, Splinter sat silently, running his hand down his beard. "I was worried about this...during meditation earlier, I believe Michelangelo was the only one of you who was successful in reaching his inner self. However, I am uncertain to what happened. One second, his aura was there, then the next, it was...replaced...with something cold and dark."

"Sensei, I may have discovered something about Mikey's new personality. Observing him, and how he acted around you, and then how he acted towards me brought me to the conclusion that Mikey is a ninja." Splinter stopped stroking his beard and looked at his son, as if Leo had lost his mind. "Well I know he's a ninja, but what I mean is...um...how do I say this." Leo paused and thought for a minute. "Mikey is...more ninja than Mikey...if that makes sense. It's as though he's one of those ninjas from those stories you used to tell us. Deadly assassins, following the code of their master. And in their teams, their platoons, the leader's word was law, it had to be followed. I realized this when Mikey...when he told Rahzar that he should commit seppuku, because he dishonored his master. The only way to get him to release Rahzar was to give him an order in a way that a leader would. I have come to agree with you, Sensei. He is no longer Mikey. He did not grow up, he...disappeared. And now we have to get him back. His absence has taken its toll on me."

"How so, Leonardo?"

"I feel useless, and because I feel useless, battles...unbalance me. I cannot recover from hits and I cannot seem to feel confident in my abilities. Sensei, I...We, need Mikey back." Leo stared into his father's eyes.

"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!" Father and son spun towards the dojo. Splinter quickly slid open the door and they saw Raph pounding the wall, his fists bleeding.

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

"Mikey.." Leo said under his breath as Raphael tried to regain control of his anger after punching the floor. Raph's head snapped up.

"What about Mikey?" The angry growl rose up in Raphael's question.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok! So I am back on track, getting these chapters out in a reasonable amount of time. Hopefully I can keep that up. So in this chapter, I visited Raph's relationship with his brothers, but especially with Mikey. As I said in the 2nd chapter blurb, I take a lot of my ideas from a slew of different fanfics and character studies about Mikey. Some of this is all me, but I have been influenced by a bunch of stories. I hope you enjoy this! Please review! I always like reading those ^_^**

Leo glanced at Master Splinter, only to have Raphael grab him by the shoulders roughly and turn Leo to face him. "What. About. Mikey?" the anger seemed to be building up again. Raph had always been the most protective of Mikey, so this seemed to be a normal reaction...however, this reaction was far more volatile than normal, like it was the thought of Mikey that angered Raph. Leo sighed and answered Raph's question.

"The reason it's so quiet is because...Mikey is not...himself. Think about it, Raph, the only reason it's so lively around here is because of Mikey." Leo said, locking eyes with Raph. The anger disappeared, but was replaced with confusion and surprise. Raph slowly let go of Leo as he thought. "I also think that Mikey is the one that can calm you down..." Raph looked up, his expression seemed to say, "you're joking, right?" Before Raph could say anything, Splinter cut in.

"I agree with Leonardo. I have spent many long hours trying to teach you to control your anger, however, the techniques I have shown you, only temporarily help you. Michelangelo, on the other hand, never fails to calm you down."

"You both are crazy if you think Mikey...MIKEY! can calm me down. He's the one that pushes all of my buttons. He's the one that makes me angry!" Raph crossed his arms and scowled at Splinter and Leo.

"My son," Splinter put a comforting hand on Raph's shoulder, "Is it really Michelangelo that drives your anger? I think it would be best if you meditated on these questions. Why the silence unnerves you and how you really feel about Michelangelo. When you have found your answers, we may discuss this further." Splinter smiled at his son, then led him out to the dojo in order to start him on his meditation. "Leonardo, will you please check on Donatello and Michelangelo, let us leave Raphael in peace." Splinter walked out of the room with his eldest son, leaving Raphael sitting in the middle of the dojo to meditate on the questions.

Raphael sat in the silence of the dojo, trying to clear his mind in order to meditate...but as before, the silence did not relax him, it just put him more on edge. He opened his eyes and began to wander around the dojo, just walking up and down the length of the room, letting his mind drift towards the questions that Master Splinter asked him. He decided to focus on the question about Mikey first. Mikey has always been a pain in the shell, why do they think that Mikey calms him down when he clearly annoys Raph to the point of blind rage...wait...blind rage? Raphael sat down, confused at this question that came up. Has he ever been blinded with that red haze when Mikey was involved?

No...he hasn't. But...that didn't make any sense. Mikey was an annoying, loud, button-pushing, curious, prankster. There was no way that Mikey could calm Raph down...was there? Raph tried again to clear his mind. As he sat, his breathing slowed and his thoughts turned to a recent Mikey prank.

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

It had been a typical morning. Raph woke up, brushed his teeth and headed down to breakfast, where Mikey was singing about pizza flavored french toast or something. Raph smirked as he saw Leo pouring himself a bowl of cereal, knowing that Mikey's pizza-flavored food experiments always went awry.

"Dude! I have french toast coming up! Put that cereal back!" Mikey cried as he tried to convince Leo to try his concoction.

"Um...no offense, Mikey," Leo chuckled, "But your pizza-flavored foods never turn out as well as you hoped." Mikey cocked an eyebrow as he looked confused. Then, the kitchen was filled with Mikey's high spirited laugh.

"Leo. Leo Leo Leo Leo Leo. This french toast isn't pizza-flavored. I just like singing about pizza. I so know that some foods should never be combined with pizza." Mikey smiled his signature smile as he motioned with his eyes for Leo to put the bowl of cereal away.

"Yea, and I _so_ know that you can read a book without pictures." Raph mocked as he sat down at the table. Mikey stuck out his tongue and giggled as he placed perfect pieces of french toast and orange juice on the table. Raph took a bite and smiled. "And this is why we let you do the cooking." Leo, Raph and Mikey ate their french toast while Donnie staggered into the kitchen, eyes half open and dried drool on his mouth.

"Yo, D!" Mikey called to the zombie walking towards the sink, coffee cup in hand. "The coffee's this way, man." Mikey grabbed Donnie and led him towards the coffee, snickering at Donnie's morning routine. After Donnie had his coffee, he sat down to enjoy breakfast with his brothers. Then it was off to morning training. Master Splinter had them practice with each other's weapons. After the last disaster when he told them to switch weapons, Splinter made it his mission to get his sons used to other weapon types, just in case. Mikey had Leo's katanas in hand, it looked awkward and he seemed to be uncomfortable holding them, but Splinter knew better. He knew Mikey had the most talent out of his brothers, but he also knew that Mikey had the most gentle and caring soul out of his brothers. Mikey could easily handle using other weapons, but he did not want to upstage his older brothers. Mikey knew that if he showed how easily he could adapt, Leo would be jealous and get frustrated, Raph would just leave the room in anger, and Donnie would feel unimportant and hide himself in his lab. Mikey understood his brothers, maybe even better than they understood themselves. Splinter smiled as training came to an end.

"Yame! Training is over for now, take some time to relax, my sons. You have earned it." Splinter proudly smiled as his four children bowed and then ran out of the dojo.

Leo immediately sat in front of the tv and turned on "Space Heroes" (duh) and Donnie ran into his lab. Raph walked back towards his room, kind of frustrated with how training turned out. He was using Mikey's nunchaku, but he couldn't seem to get a handle on them. He felt like a failure. His other brothers seemed to be making more progress on the weapons training than him. Muttering under his breath about stupid nun-chuks, Raph opened his door...only to get a face-full of paint as the door triggered the paint bomb. Raph stood there, covered in red paint, the only thing he could sense was the laughter of one orange-clad turtle.

"Dude! You should see your face! HAHAHAHAHA!" Mikey laughed so hard he fell back on his shell and was rolling around. Raph wiped the paint from his eyes, which now were filled with anger, rather than paint.

"MIKEY!" Raph yelled as he started running at the laughing turtle. Mikey sat up, fear covering his face.

"GYAHHAHAA!" Mikey half screamed, half laughed as he ran away from the fuming Raphael. But, even though he was mad, he was having fun. Chasing Mikey always had Raph laughing by then end. Mikey was good at running away, so it was a challenge for Raph to catch him. It wasn't too easy, but it made for a good workout...and Mikey always had the most creative ways of running away. It was never just in circles, there were flips involved, jumps, and slides. It was a new experience every time Raph chased Mikey after some prank he pulled. The thing was, Raph was only mad about the prank for a split second. The anger was gone by the time he finished saying the blue-eyed turtle's name. Even though it seemed like he and Mikey did not get along, Raph always felt the closest with Mikey.

With Leo, Raph always felt...second-rate. Leo was "Mr. Perfect" and "Fearless Leader," while Raph was always the hot-tempered one, the muscle. Leo could do everything he couldn't do. He looked up to Leo, and respected him, but Raph's pride would get in the way all of the time. Raph could never be the leader...and that made him feel small and unimportant. However, Raph did enjoy sparring with Leo. Having someone who was a challenge gave him the workout and the practice he needed. He also felt that Leo knew him well enough to know which buttons not to press and how not to make him angry.

The way Raph felt with Donnie was...complicated. On one hand, Donnie was the perfect outlet for all of Raph's sarcasm. It was just so easy! And even though Donnie was the smartest turtle among them, Donnie could be pretty dumb when it came to differentiating sarcasm from normal speech. Donnie was also the one who bandaged any and all injuries, not just to the body, but to electronics as well. Raph could always count on Don to fix his sound system or the television during WWE week. Donnie was also a great listener. Raph wasn't one for talking about what bothered him, but Raph would sometimes go into the lab and just rant about Leo, about how much Mikey annoys him, about just mundane stuff, and Donnie would keep it all to himself...something about doctor-patient confidence. But half the time, Raph had no idea what the taller turtle was saying. His words were all evidence of a heightened intelligence. Donnie did not always realize that he was speaking with vocabulary that was way out of their league...but it still made Raph feel stupid. He did not resent Donnie for that, but he couldn't help how he felt.

And then there was Mikey. Mikey with his goofy smile, bright, baby-blue eyes and laughter that filled the entire lair. Laughter that seemed to brighten the day, jokes and pranks that kept Raphael on his toes, but also out of the fiery pit of anger. ...Was that what sensei meant by Mikey keeping Raph calm? Thinking about it, Mikey only pulled pranks or pushed Raph into chasing him when he was upset or about to lose it. That's when Raph came to some sort of enlightenment. Mikey knew! Mikey knew how all of them were feeling, especially Raph. Mikey was always there when Raph thought he would lose it...thought he would hurt someone he cared about. Mikey let Raph take it out on him through the chase and the eventual catch. No matter what, Mikey would always let Raph catch him, playfully punch him a few times and then collapse on the couch laughing about the epic game of tag that just ensued. Game? In order to appease Raph's anger, Mikey would...play with him? It was never about letting Raph take it out on Mikey! It was a game to play, to relate and help his big brother. Raph wondered if Mikey did similar things for Donnie and Leo. Sensei was right...Mikey was always able to calm him down, no matter what...oh, how stupid he's been! Why did Raph have to say those things to Mikey? "I'm...We're fed up with it, Mikey!"...Raph sighed in his meditation. How could he ever think that the Mikey they have now was better. Mikey was his baby brother, it was _his_ job to protect him from everything...even himself.

Raph then decided to go onto the, now easier, question of why the silence upset him. The silence was filled with nothing. And that bothered him. Usually when there was silence, everyone was nervous, but why was this silence different? The answer seemed to just punch Raphael in the face. It was different because Mikey was different. There had been silence before, when Mikey had been scared or sick, but there was always those little squeaks or small nervous laughs that Raph didn't think important before...but now he missed them like crazy. Mikey is gone...no more laughs, no more smiles, no more video game tournaments...Raph couldn't live like this. Mikey may be gone, but he is not dead. The old Mikey is somewhere in that orange banded shell, and even if it kills Raph, he would get his baby bro back. Raph needed Mikey to keep his anger in check...to keep him from turning into the monster that was buried deep inside of himself. Those were the facts, now Raph needed a plan to revive the Mikey he once knew.


	6. Chapter 6

**So, this chapter's a little short, but I am writing more to it as I type this! So I decided to go into Donnie's feelings towards Mikey this time around. Donnie is super smart and uses a lot of heightened vocabulary, so I tried to mirror this in my writing (unfortunately, my vocabulary is limited. Just remember that a thesaurus is your best friend!) Any-who, Enjoy!**

Donnie sat back in his chair, eye-brows knitted together in an attempt to ease his headache. He'd been in his lab ever since they got back...and he has not been able to concentrate on a single project. He couldn't find the motivation to work on the retro-mutagen, or try to invent another useful tool for him and his brothers. He just sat there looking at the ceiling, bored for the first time in his life.

"I don't understand," Donnie turned his head towards the frozen Timothy. "It's quiet, there are no distractions, I should be able to concentrate on my work...but, I don't have the...will power to start anything." Donnie's eyes wandered to his retro-mutagen counter. "...or finish anything." The purple-clad turtle sighed. He took out his whiteboard and a marker and began drawing small doodles of all of his inventions. He thought that maybe if he wrote down his past works, he may be inspired to do something else. "Hmm... maybe I should also write down the inspirations for all of the inventions as well." Donnie worked on this...project, if you could even call it that, and came up with a list of all of his inventions, from the time he made his first microscope with old pairs of glasses and a paper towel roll, to things like the Shell-Raiser, the T-phone, and the mutagen tracker. After listing all of his creations, Donnie sat back down in his chair to think...what inspired him to make all of these things? Well...the T-phone came from talking to Mikey about the communicators the Power Rangers had. It got Donnie thinking about some form of communication for him and his brothers. Ok...so Mikey inspired that invention. There was the toy car that Donnie fixed up and improved when they were tots...and Mikey was the one to find that and asked Donnie to fix up. Mikey again...? Donnie continued to go down the list of inventions, writing their inspirations on the far right of the white board. When he finished, Donnie stood back to look at his work. "I...don't believe it..." Donnie turned to Timothy with surprise. "According to this chart, Mikey has thought up 95.6% of all of my inventions!" Donnie fell back into his chair, exasperated by this conclusion. "And the other 4.4% of my inventions were inspired by science books...and those inventions were not my best work." Donnie's face fell into his hands. He sat up suddenly a look of determination filling his face. "Why should I only get ideas from Mikey, huh? I mean...He's a goof-ball, a brat and by no means is he smart...Mikey reads at a 1st grade level...he can barely get through a comic book without asking me or Leo what a word means or how to pronounce it...no...this has to be some sort of fortuity."

As Donnie tried to convince himself of that all of this was just a coincidence, he looked around his lab and how clean it was. He looked over to his desk, where Mikey would usually sit, bugging him about stupid inventions that he should make. Stupid inventions that Donnie usually made later on because they suddenly became interesting to him...NO! No no no no no. They were stupid...and Donnie thought of them. Donnie pouted like a five year old as he told himself over an over again that _he_ was the genius...not Mikey. Donnie sighed as he sat back in his chair, his eyes closed.

Walking silently into Donnie's lab, Master Splinter glided over to Donnie. Noticing the white board, Splinter smiled slightly at Donnie's thought process. "Donatello?" Master Splinter spoke, hoping to talk with his son about Mikey's condition. Upon hearing his name so close to him, Donnie jolted up and fell out of his chair in the process.

"Master, don't sneak up on me like that." Donnie requested as he put a hand over his heart, which felt like it was beating out of his chest. Chuckling, Splinter helped his son up.

"I did not mean to startle you, my son." Splinter directed his nose at the white board and Donnie's eyes followed, which caused him to gasp and flip the board over so that Splinter couldn't read it. Smiling at his son's quirks, Splinter sat down in the extra chair in the lab. Motioning to the other chair for Donnie to sit in, Donnie realized that his father wanted to talk to him. "I noticed your chart." Splinter stated to start the conversation.

"Oh...that old thing..." Donnie rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I was just...uh...you know taking inventory of..."

"My son," Splinter interrupted. "I know why you made that. You felt like the atmosphere in our home was different, and you were experiencing some unnerving feelings as well." Donnie looked up, a little surprised that his father was able to pick that out, but also confused.

"As well...?"

"Raphael is having trouble coping with his anger, and Leonardo is...well, your brothers are not themselves. Raphael is spending some time meditating on his feelings about...this change." Splinter explained. "But what is troubling you, Donatello?"

"I...I just realized that I have 4.4% works that are mine...my idea...and it makes me feel...like some machine that just puts out products...not making anything original. I want to be a great scientist, and being inventive and being able to think of other solutions are characteristics that all scientists need and I...Mikey seems to...never mind...Mikey's too dumb to do anything like..." Donnie was always good at opening up and talking about his feelings, but he always went around in circles and tangents, which made it hard to follow. Splinter stopped his son, mid-thought.

"Why do you believe Michelangelo to be 'dumb?'" Splinter asked using Donnie's own words.

"You're kidding right?" Donnie asked, eyebrows pulled in a straight line of disbelief. Seeing Splinter's serious expression, "Oh my gosh, you're not! I mean, have you met Mikey? He's practically the only living being in the world that can walk around without a brain! He can barely understand a single thing that anyone tells him. He goofs off pulling a multitude of pranks that no one on this earth could ever see coming because they are so ridiculous! I mean, a mashed potato cannon!? I mean that is so dumb that I *gasp*" Donnie stopped talking suddenly as though he just had an epiphany. Splinter smiled, knowing exactly what conclusion Donatello came to.

"My son, Michelangelo may not be as smart at you, but he is not a fool. He may act like one some...most...all of the time, but it is only an act." Donnie looked up at his father.

"But...it still doesn't make any sense...how can he come up with ideas like those and implement them all on his own...I mean..He can barely read!...and all he does is bug me...bug Raph..and sometimes Leo, I mean..." Splinter put a calming hand on Donnie's shoulder.

"My son, do you remember when you were young, you four had your own rooms and were starting to come into your own personalities? You started to drift apart...you would be in this room, *heh*, it wasn't much of a lab back then, but you spent almost every hour of every day holed up in here. I noticed that, it was Michelangelo that kept you four together." The confused look on Donnie's face made Splinter smile and continue. "He would practically drag you out of here asking you to play with him, Raphael and Leonardo." Splinter could see the light-bulb go off in his smartest son's head.

"Right! And since we didn't have a TV back then, he would make us play these imaginative adventure games, where the lair would turn into an Amazon jungle or we would go on an expedition to Mt. Everest. The way he would describe the places and spin the tales of our adventures made it seem like we were actually there. He was so creative back then." Donnie smiled as he reminisced. Then a dark cloud of confusion worked its way into his face. "But..how could Mikey even know those places existed? We had no TV, no computer..." Splinter stopped his son and he stood up.

"Come with me, let me show you something." Donnie clumsily ran to catch up with his sensei, intrigue guiding him. Splinter brought him to an old storage closet that, honestly, Donnie had forgotten about. Sensei took out this old key and turned the lock, and opened the door. Clicking on the light, Donnie observed in awe the room before him. Organized on many shelves were trinkets, old blankets, and old pieces of junk...? Donnie looked up on one shelf and saw an old pair of goggles...his first pair, with a huge crack in a lens. He remembered throwing those out because an experiment of his went awry and damaged them.

"Sensei, are these...are all of these...?" Donnie couldn't find the right words.

"Yes, these are all objects from our lives together as a family. I took many pictures, but, being a giant rat, I could not get them developed...so I allowed myself to collect memories in the form of objects." Splinter bent down and pulled out a large dusty old book that was ripping at the seams. "This is an old atlas, with pictures and information about the different environments covering the earth. This..was Michelangelo's favorite book." Donnie looked up in surprise, half-waiting for Sensei to burst out laughing and say "just kidding", but the other half believed that Sensei was telling him the truth. Donnie gingerly opened the worn-from-use atlas. The language in this book was on a college reading level, and there weren't many pictures of the places Mikey "took" them to.

"But...there's no way that Mikey...Mikey! could read this let alone understand this at five-years-old!...is there?" Donnie said as he continued to leaf through. A clump of wire fell out of the book and landed by Donnie's feet. He bent over to pick it up and it looked like a pair of poorly made make-shift glasses...no lenses though, something like a child would wear for a halloween costume. Splinter chuckled as he removed the "glasses" from Donnie's hand.

"I remember Michelangelo would wear these up in the tree with this book. He would spend hours up there, studying the words and pictures." Splinter turned to look Donatello in the eyes, "He took your reading lessons very seriously. I think he made these in order to mimic you...wearing your goggles. He wanted so badly for you to praise him on how smart he was." Splinter smiled as he gently placed the wire-frame glasses back in the book.

"But...then..." Donnie looked up into his father's eyes, "what changed? Why did he stop listening to me, taking things seriously...what...?" Splinter broke eye-contact and made his way towards the door to the closet.

"That, is a question you will have to ask Michelangelo..." Splinter's eyes got dark for a second, "But I'm afraid that the Michelangelo you should ask is...unavailable." Splinter took a couple more steps, then turned around to face Donnie. "Your mind is a beautiful gift, Donatello. Use it to discover the answers for yourself." With that, Splinter walked away leaving Donnie with a giant book and more questions than answers. Fortunately, Donatello **loved** discovering the answers to questions, that's why he chose academics over the more athletic activities that his brothers enjoyed. Donnie walked out of the closet, turned off the light and closed the locked door behind him as he made his way back to his lab.


	7. Chapter 7

**Another chapter with Donnie and TURTLE TOTS! I love stories of the turtle tots. I cannot wait for the 2012 series to put a turtle tot episode in there. I NEED to see a turtle tot episode. Who's with me!? **

**Also, I've been thinking. I really want to draw or make a fanfic trailer for this story. I might do that in the near future, but if anyone of you want to do that, be my guest. I find that drawings or videos help inspire me. Well, enjoy this chapter!**

"I've analyzed every possible explanation...well every logical explanation, as to why Mikey became such a...for-lack-of-a-better-word...goof-ball!" Donnie sighed as he sat looking at his almost black white-board, the old atlas on the corner of his desk. He'd been contemplating the reasons for Mikey's change from wanting to show Donnie how smart he was to being the ultimate, dumb, though creative, prankster he was now. "UGGHHH!" Donnie banged his head against his desk in frustration, causing the atlas to fall to the floor. Sighing, Donnie picked up the atlas, an old letter falling out of the pages. Eye-brow cocked up (or it would be if they had eye-brows ^_^), Donnie picked up the yellowed paper with orange crayon marking it. The markings read, "To: Donne." Donnie laughed at the misspelling of his name. This must be from Mikey...but the handwriting was surprisingly neat. Donnie carefully unfolded the letter. Reading it over...Donnie became even more confused. Other than the occasional spelling error, the letter was written neatly and with almost perfect grammar. Mikey even put the date at the top.

_ 09-20-2003_

_Dear Donne,_

_ You are one of the coolest big brudders ever! Its almost our mutation day and I know that you are hurting your brane for ideas on what to do for us. Hurt your brane no more becaws I have made a list of the most cool ideas ever! That old TV that you found could be the best gift ever to all of us. I know you are the smartiest turtle out there, so I know you can fixed it. I know your frustrated, but if you just follow that tech books ideas on circuits and tubes, I think you can make it really nice. _

_ Also, in the future, if you ever have time, I think you should make a submarine to go exploring in the sewers! We could pretend like we are divers looking for berried treasure. Oooh! Also, could you make a dimond lightning sword like Unicorn-man has in his comics! That would be super cool!_

_ You have taught me so much, I feel as though Im almost as smarty as you. Please keep teaching me, and dont be such a hermit (I learned this word the other day!). _

_ Your amazing younger brudder,_

_ Michelangelo _

Donnie stared at the letter. He could not...he could not believe at the level of intelligence that this letter was written in. Also, why had he never seen this before? If Mikey wanted Donnie to praise him for how smart he was, then shouldn't he have shown this letter to him? Donnie looked through the letter again and his eyes fell on the date. Now, Donnie had an almost perfect photographic memory, he could remember every piece of junk he ever picked up in order to use it later, but he couldn't remember what he had for breakfast that morning. He did his best to remember the important things. Donnie read the date. "September twentieth, two-thousand-three...That's nine days before our 6th mutation day! What...what happened on that day?" Donnie sat back in his chair and began to leaf through his memory, going back in time to that day.

"Yame! Training is over for today." Splinter said. The four brothers sat in front of their father as he always gave feedback after training. "Donatello, you need to keep your head close to your chest when doing a back flip. And don't think too much about what to do next. Just follow your instincts."

"Hai, shenshei!" Donnie said, his speech a little funny due to the fact he lost three of his front baby teeth that week.

"Raphael, you cannot always rely on force to win. You need to use your opponents force against them. That is why Leonardo was able to take advantage of the situation so quickly. *sigh* You need to calm your head and think before you act."

"Hai, sensei..." Raph said in a gruffed tone, rolling his eyes as he said it which earned him a glare from Splinter. Sitting up straight, eyes wide, Raph repeated the phrase with more respect. "Hai, sensei!"

"Leonardo. You did well today, but I wish that you do not try so hard to be perfect. Even if the move is not perfect, it could be used to your advantage. This is how you come into your own style of fighting. Also, please keep your leg up more when completing a round-house kick."

"Hai, sensei!" Leo said, being the teacher's pet he is, his tone showed more respect than either of his two brothers. Raphael gave a disapproving glare to his older brother as he huffed and crossed his arms.

"Finally, Michelangelo." Mikey looked up at his sensei with wide eyes and a big smile on his face. Splinter smiled back as he tried to think of what his youngest son could improve upon. Thinking of nothing, Splinter finished up, "Please keep doing your best, my son." Mikey smiled an even bigger smile as his father and teacher addressed all of them again. "Now is the time for your academic studies. Please go retrieve your books and pencils. We will continue where we left off yesterday." The boys ran out of the dojo to do as their father asked. On the way out, Raph pushed Mikey lightly, causing him to stumble out of the way.

"Raph!" Mikey yelled as his older brother laughed and continued to run out of the room. Pouting, Mikey ran after Raph, jumping out, flipping over and landing right in front of the hot-tempered tot. Smiling, Mikey stuck out his tongue and lightly tapped Raph on his plastron. "Gotcha!" The two ran around the family area for a while, while Donnie grabbed his book and pencil. Donnie was reading a middle school text book titled, _Biology of the World_ and his notebook, that Splinter kept with him, was filled with theories and equations that Donnie learned from the book. Looking over to the side, Donnie saw Mikey's book. Deciding to be a good older brother, Donnie grabbed Mikey's book and pencil and began walking back to the dojo. Before arriving in the dojo, Donnie glanced at Mikey's book. A paper bag colored with orange crayon labeling the book as Mikey's covered the book's leather cover. Carefully removing the paper bag so he could see which book Mikey was reading, Donnie almost dropped the big books on the ground. Mikey was reading a book on engineering...that was at a high school level of reading. Flipping through a few pages, Donnie saw little notes in the margins which were in Mikey's handwriting. They were so sophisticated and organized that Donnie felt tears welling up. Walking into the dojo, Donnie saw Splinter sitting with all of their notebooks placed around him in a semi-circle. Splinter always collected their notebooks at the end of the session in order to monitor their progress. Seeing Mikey's notebook, Donnie just burst into tears and ran towards his father.

"Donatello, what is wrong?" Splinter asked, concerned for his son.

"Why? Why doesh Mikey have to be sho good at everything? I can't be good like him in ninja training, so I wanted my thing to be academicsh! But he took that away from me! Why can't I have shomething that only I can do?! Why can't I have shomething that makesh me shpecial?!" Donnie cried in Splinter's lap. Realizing that Donnie saw Mikey's book, Splinter sighed and was about to explain that he should not feel inferior when Mikey walked into the dojo. Mikey picked up his and Donnie's books that Donnie had dropped when he ran towards Splinter. Smiling Mikey placed a small hand on Donnie's shoulder. Donnie looked up, when he saw who it was, he was going to say something rude out of the hurt he felt, but Mikey just smiled and laughed.

"Donnie, I'm no good at the academic stuff, you know that!" Donnie, confused, sat up, wiping tears from his eyes.

"But, Mikey, I shaw your notesh. They are..." Mikey interrupted Donnie before he could continue.

"Those aren't my notes! I just wrote over the notes that were already in the book." Flipping through his notebook, Mikey showed Donnie pages and pages of doodles. "These are my notes. I just can't focus enough to listen to Sensei...uh, no offense, Sensei." Mikey laughed nervously as he looked up at his father. Mikey stared back into Donnie's red-brown eyes. "You are the smartiest brother that I have! I mean you fixed that toy car that I found! It goes super fast and..." Mikey rambled on for a while, Donnie listening to the praise that his little brother was giving him, his face slowly lifting into a smile. "So that is why a go-cart that can turn into four go-carts would be amazing!" Mikey finished up telling Donnie all of the great things he made and should make, because he is the **only** turtle that could. Mikey placed a hand on Donnie's shoulder and pulled him into a hug. Little did Donatello know, that Mikey's face showed hurt and sadness as he hugged him. But as they came apart, Mikey pasted his signature smile on his face and sat down in his spot to prepare for the day's lesson.

After the lesson, Donnie ran to his "lab" to begin working on a new project, one that Mikey had suggested (i put lab in quotes because remember what Splinter said about the room not being quite a lab yet). He felt so special and full of motivation that he had to get to work right away. As he was working, he sensed someone at the door. Turning around, his eyes huge from the magnifying goggles he was wearing, he saw Mikey. For a split second he thought that Mikey looked absolutely miserable, but then Mikey's face was filled with teeth as he smiled.

"Don't work too hard, Donnie!" Mikey said as he turned around and left the doorway. Donnie thought about the face he saw on Mikey..but shrugged it off as being his magnifying goggles playing tricks on his eyes. There was no way that Mikey could make such a face.

In Mikey's room, Mikey took out the letter from under his pillow. Looking at it he carefully placed it in his atlas, along with his wire "glasses." Picking up the giant book, he waddled into the dojo where Splinter was meditating.

"Dad...I mean, Sensei?" Mikey said. Splinter was about to scold Michelangelo for interrupting him, but hearing the tone in his son's voice stopped him.

"What is it, Michelangelo?" Splinter asked concerned. Holding out the book, Mikey asked.

"Can you put this somewhere else? I don't want it anymore." Mikey didn't look his father in the eye, and Splinter heard the obvious lie in the phrase, "I don't want it..." But thinking back to what transpired between his two sons, Michelangelo and Donatello, Splinter took the book without a word. He patted Michelangelo's head and said.

"You have such a gentle soul, my son. I am proud of you." Mikey brought his sad face up and his eyes met his father's. Smiling the truest smile Splinter had ever seen, Mikey simply said.

"Thanks, Dad," and walked out of the dojo.

Donnie opened his eyes. With a determined look on his face, Donnie ran back to the storage closet. Picking the lock with his handy-dandy lock-picker, Donnie quickly opened the door and began leafing through all of the boxes. Pulling out this one box, a bunch of dust flew into his face. Donnie coughed, his eyes watering. Through the coughs, his eyes caught a piece of brown paper bag with orange crayon on it. Wiping his face, he grabbed the old engineering book. It was the same one from that time. Looking up from the book, Donnie rushed back to his lab.

"If Mikey really did write over these notes, then I should be able to wipe his away and see the under-layer." Donnie said more to himself than to anyone else. Using his chemistry set, he got to work on a solution that would erase Mikey's notes, revealing the notes of the previous owner underneath. Once the compound was completed, Donnie carefully tore out a single page from the book, laying it down flat on his work table. Taking a cu-tip, Donnie rubbed a small amount over a small section of notes. Then he waited. Once the mixture was dry, Mikey's writing would be gone and the under-layer would be revealed. Pacing his lab, Donnie muttered the elements from the periodic table under his breath. He found that repeating the elements helped him relax, and waiting for the solution to dry was stressing Donnie out. *DING* The timer Donnie set went off and Donnie practically flew back to his desk. Looking at the area that he wiped with the solution, Donnie found...nothing. No imprints, no markings...just a blank space. Eyes wide with confusion and surprise, Donnie stared at the page, hoping to see something...anything to prove that Mikey really was dumb... "He has an IQ of 40.4, for Pete's sake!" Donnie cried. Realizing that no matter how long he stared at the page, it would not change the fact that Mikey was smarter than he let on...**a lot** smarter. Anger swept over Donnie as he thought back to situations in the recent past that should have revealed Mikey's intelligence.

(Season 1 ep 9 "The Gauntlet")

Donnie was put in charge of diffusing the mutagen bomb planted by the Kraang. Unfortunately, they were interrupted by Chris Bradford and Xever. Leo, Raph and Mikey were fighting them off as Donnie did his best to figure out how to diffuse the extremely complicated alien bomb.

"Down to two wires..." Donnie was sweating. "But which do I cut? Black...or green?" Donnie was freaking out because he had no idea what to do, but he didn't want to let down his brothers. All of a sudden he heard Mikey's voice yell at him.

"Go for the green!" As soon as he said this, Mikey was punched hard by Bradford. Mikey giving a suggestion for something that Donnie should know was not meant to be taken seriously. Donnie was thinking black...why should he listen to Mikey. This was Donnie's area of expertise...not Mikey's...but, since Mikey knew nothing, it brought a fresh perspective to the problem at hand.

"Eh, why not?" Donnie closed his eyes and moved his wire clippers to the green wire and cut it. The bomb powered down and Donnie was surprised. "Guys! Guys! Mikey, was right about something!" Donnie smiled and ran into the fight to help his brothers defeat Shredder's underlings...

Thinking back on it...and with this new reveal that the notes were Mikey's...was Mikey just guessing when he said to go for the green? Or did he actually know which wire should be cut and was just letting Donnie know? And that time when Mikey had shellacne. In order to defeat Rahzar, Mikey taunted Rahzar into electrocuting himself...which gave Donnie the idea of breaking the fire-sprinklers. But why...? "Why would Mikey lie to me...to us?" Donnie sunk his head to his desk in defeat, just as Leo walked into the lab.

"Donnie?" Donnie jerked up and looked at his older brother. "What did you mean about Mikey lying to us?"


End file.
